{"id":43238,"date":"2025-07-28T18:33:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T18:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/43238\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T18:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T18:33:07","slug":"emmanuel-clase-placed-on-leave-amid-mlb-sports-betting-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/43238\/","title":{"rendered":"Emmanuel Clase Placed On Leave Amid MLB Sports-Betting Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase<\/a> has been placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave through Aug. 31 as part of Major League Baseball\u2019s ongoing investigation into sports betting, per a league announcement. Clase\u2019s teammate, Luis Ortiz<\/a>, was the first (and thus far only other) player placed on leave under the ongoing investigation. Clase will continue to be paid while the league looks into any alleged wrongdoing. He will not count against the team\u2019s 40-man roster while on leave. ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan reported<\/a> that Clase was being placed on leave shortly prior to MLB\u2019s formal announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Guardians have been notified by Major League Baseball that as part of their sports betting investigation Emmanuel Clase<\/a> has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave per an agreement with the Players Association,\u201d the team said Monday in a statement. \u201cWe have been informed that no additional players or Club personnel are expected to be impacted. The Guardians are not permitted to comment further at this time, and will respect the league\u2019s confidential investigative process as we continue to fully cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clase\u2019s name had surfaced as a potential trade candidate<\/a> this summer, as several contenders around the league have been weighing a run at impact relievers with multiple years of club control remaining. A trade wasn\u2019t seen as likely, given Clase\u2019s below-market contract and general track record of excellence.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Clase has pitched 47 1\/3 innings of 3.23 ERA ball this year \u2014 a \u201cdown\u201d season relative to his lofty standards. The right-hander boasts a superlative 1.84 ERA in 336 2\/3 innings over the past five seasons. He\u2019s saved 181 games, fanned just under one-quarter of his opponents, issued walks at a tiny 4.8% clip and piled up grounders at an elite 58.5% rate along the way.<\/p>\n

Clase signed a five-year, $20MM extension back in April 2022. He\u2019s being paid just $4.5MM this year and has a $6MM guarantee for the 2026 season under the terms of that contract. His extension included a pair of $10MM club options for the 2027-28 seasons, though he\u2019s already maxed out a series of escalators that have pushed the value of each of those options up to $13MM apiece.<\/p>\n

The news comes as a notable blow to the Guardians\u2019 already-thin postseason hopes. Cleveland is eight games back of the division-leading Tigers and 3.5 games out of an AL Wild Card spot (with three teams to leapfrog). They were already without Ortiz, their fourth starter, due to this ongoing investigation and had lost another rotation member, Ben Lively<\/a>, to Tommy John surgery. Former AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber<\/a> was targeting a June return but has yet to pitch in the majors after a setback in recovery from his own Tommy John procedure \u2014 though he\u2019s on a rehab assignment and on the cusp of a return to the majors.<\/p>\n

[Related: Cleveland Guardians Trade Deadline Outlook<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Clase\u2019s bullpen-mate, Cade Smith<\/a>, figures to take over closing duties for the time being. He\u2019s arguably an even better reliever at this point than Clase is, and Smith himself has received plenty of attention on the summer trade market. As with Clase, a deal has been seen as unlikely, given the 26-year-old righty\u2019s four-plus seasons of remaining club control.<\/p>\n

Depending on how one chooses to view the Clase suspension, it could make a Smith trade more or less likely. Smith now becomes an even more focal point in the bullpen and all the more critical to whatever playoff hopes Cleveland has left. At the same time, losing Clase further dampens those postseason odds and could make the Guards more willing to turn the page on the 2025 season and focus more on the future. Smith should be an integral part of that future, but he could also net a legitimate prospect haul if moved in the next three days, potentially adding multiple long-term contributors to the Guards in 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave through Aug. 31 as part of Major…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[34620,29386,99],"class_list":["post-43238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cade-smith","tag-emmanuel-clase","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}